Our Thanksgiving Menu (A Simple and Easy Thanksgiving Menu)

It may or may not surprise you but we do not go all out for Thanksgiving. I've given up on trying to coordinate a big family gathering because of my allergies and I don't really care to do all the cooking for that many people myself! So we stick with just us, which is just fine with me.

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For our menu I don't want to have to cook all day or stress out too much but I do want to have a nice meal. I also don't want to spend way too much money on just a meal. I'd rather spend money on a family activity that will make into a memory or just save it for something else altogether. Maybe that's just me though!

Um yeah, so that's about as "complicated" as it gets around here! I was going to buy a turkey from our local Hutterite group but then I remembered that I have several whole chickens in the freezer still so we might as well just use that! I have plenty of potatoes in my cold storage that need to be used and the gravy will be super simple to whip up. The orange salad will use oranges from my cold storage, the pumpkin pie will use pumpkin puree that I made up earlier this fall, and the stuffing will use apples and onions from cold storage!

So I don't have to do any shopping for our meal, besides shopping my own pantry. That will definitely make it easier on us and easier on our wallets!

What are you making for Thanksgiving? What are you doing to make it easier on you and on your pocketbooks?

I usually make a pretty big meal and we eat on in for a few days. This is my favorite holiday, so I like to make it special. This year, however, we were invited to a friend’s home. I will be making a small turkey to help offset her costs, plus my sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. I am taking rolls and a veggie tray, along with a cheese ball and a cake. Between the two families, we are feeding twelve people.

Sounds like a plan. My hubby’s ex-wife’s family has a bonfire and makes a special soup recipe for Thanksgiving. Everyone brings a finger food thingy. Oh and the soup is only made that time of year (and the recipe is guarded and passed down as needed). They either rent a park shelter or have it at one of the kids’ farm. That way everyone gets together, no one has to cook and clean, and the kids can run and play. Yep — rain, snow or sun!

I’m definitely using my surplus from my garden. I’ve already got a turkey my mom had given me a while ago. My family is not large, so I’ve got all the veggies already, my family is bringing other things and I’m going to make a key lime pie.. Voila! Only money spent will be for beverages, which we need anyway.

Well that all looks pretty good and festive to me! All the staples of a holiday and none of the fuss. I like your approach, even if it is not my own. I enjoy planning and cooking a big traditional meal, and also experimenting a little from year to year. A lot of the memories are food-related, so we always have a turkey, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, corn casserole, oyster casserole, cranberry sauce, and some years glazed carrots, roasted brussels sprouts, and/or green bean casserole. For dessert I am planning a German chocolate cake, pumpkin streusel pie (or something pumpkin- still open to ideas), and mini apple stack cakes. I like to use up all of my leftovers making either turkey soup or turkey and dumplings (in which I can use up all the leftover gravy), turkey salad for sandwiches, and a sweet potato cheesecake with leftover candied sweet potatoes.
I started shopping this week, and when I went to the grocery this morning it was a little more busy than usual. I can’t wait till this weekend (ha). My family got a gift card as a work bonus this year, and it’s paying for Thanksgiving. Thank God!

This year we’re going small, but we’re still making a huge turkey (I will be canning broth and freezing family size portions of turkey meat after, so I have some quick go-to meals). Usually, I feed upwards of 27 or 28 people on Thanksgiving lol… A couple of years ago we ended up doing a 22 lb store turkey (though it was still local) and a 14 lb wild turkey the hubby got on the last day of season. We killed most of both birds.

This year we have turkey, which will be cooked in the Westinghouse cooker in an oven bag (don’t have to baste it that way) along with a few potatoes, carrots and onions. It’ll get browned in the oven for a half hour before serving. I have green beans set aside from our garden this summer, and so I’ll be making the usual green bean casserole, but with home-made mushroom soup instead of canned, and with home-made caramelized onions. We have butternut squash, and there will be stuffing (my grandmother’s recipe, which takes about 18 eggs and is very rich and sort of like a loaf) and gravy and corn on the cob (from our garden as well, and frozen on the cob). I’ll probably make biscuits or fresh bread, depending on how busy I feel, and sis makes pumpkin pie from scratch and then if I’m lucky she’ll also make peanut butter pie which is kind of like a cheesecake but not. LOL… Oh, and mashed potatoes. Can’t forget those!

THAT ALL SOUNDS GREAT I AM NOT A COOK NEVER COULD MASTER NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRYED (LOL) BUT CAN COOK BASIC MY HUBBY IS THE COOK DOES GREAT JOB SO TELL ME WHERE YOU ALL LIVE SO I CAN COME TO DINNER(LOL) ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING AN GOD BLESS ALL.

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